Laying down track

When we left the river, before we could cross the tracks into Scottsville, Va., a very long train began rumbling through at a very slow rate. It picked up a crew and eventually moved on. But the entire process took about 15 minutes. Somewhere further down the line they were going to lay new track. The steel for the track is incredibly long, nearly as long as the train. (If you look closely, you can see it hanging from the sides of the cars. Today everything is automated. The crew guides it. But as it moves along the train lays the track without anyone getting on the ground and driving spikes into the crosstrees. Now that I’ve heard about it, I would so love to see this done.